Saturday, June 30, 2012

SPACED-OUT BRADBURY



"I have a very personal definition of s.f. which means man lost in the maze of his machineries and how to find a way out to light again" -- Ray Bradbury

Not to be content with only a magazine for monster movie lovers, the classic team-up of James Warren, Publisher and Forrest J Ackerman, Editor, combined their talents yo produce another type of magazine. In July, 1961 the first issue of SPACEMEN appeared and, while it did contain some monster-related material, this time the content catered especially to the science fiction fan.

In issue #8 (June 1964) was an article by none other than Ray Bradbury. Since this was to be the last issue of SPACEMEN, we only get a brief glimpse of the things to come from the sometimes poisened pen of the sci-fi master.

In a major coup for the magazine, the series was apparently intended for Forry's friend to sound off as he pleased. Bradbury certainly does so as he hangs out to dry FORBIDDEN PLANET, that he claimed was "marred by mediocre performances, direction and writing".

Bradbury voices his desire to, sometime before he died, work with directors David Lean, Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Zinneman, and Jack Clayton. He also talks about his wish to have what is implied as an anthology film of his stories, such as "The Veldt".

Bradbury is concise, conversational and candid in his article. It would have been a real treat to have seen a few more of these.







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